As No Other

By: Gus Victoria

There you are

‘Neath a sky so clear

With sun so dear

That to you is given

The beauty of angels

To tempt the unworthy man,

You are the jewel of an iron crown

Bestowed upon the peasant heart

Of a humble sort

Unknown in the halls of power

But for his dreams

That hope does shower,

He is to be great

If trust is given to fate,

You give him release

From failure’s sting

In the guise of a false spring,

And the fool he plays

For he knows not the praise

In your soul you sing

For his toil

Separate from the sacred soil

Of love’s grove,

He is yours as you are his

And yet neither owns

The heart freely given

The soul shared

The flesh bared,

Together as one

The genesis of timeless hope

To find in one

The other.

To know in one

The other.

Two as one,

One as neither.

Claddagh Ring

By: Gus Victoria

In the town of Claddagh of Irish kin born

The band that once worn,

Given of friendship and love

Destined from above

To be greater than dreams

In lonely moments dreamt

More in hope than contempt,

Was made to here be betrayed

In the heart that gave

The ring of Eire;

Ashes burnt in the heart’s fire

Upon time’s pyre

You were forgotten,

Spread across the land

By Journey’s fickle hand.

Claddagh ring

Do you still sing?

Blackened and burned,

Loved, rejected, and spurned? 

Refuge of Night

By: Gus Victoria

Elegant and serene

She waits for me,

The sun oppressive in its light

Is gone in the night,

She in her silvery dress

Of moonlight fair,

Gives to me

Dreams I dare,

Flight away on a ship of name,

Or hidden treasure

I would claim,

She whispers it so

That perhaps it might be,

She whispers to me,

That I might see

A limitless journey

On her inky clouds,

That with the dawn is stolen away

To wither in the sun’s rays,

I, without fail, await

Her return;

My muse,

My refuge,

My love,

She comforts what day torments,

She gives what day takes,

Night, mistress, love

Rise again that I might dine

Under your gentle light,

That I find that refuge you give,

In day I die,

By night I live.

Indivisible, Indestructible

Mortar cannot hold this house together

As ideas seek to tear her asunder,

Words cannot assuage the anger

That we foment,

Ignorance is the darkness

And truth a luxury.

Yet she holds.

The winds of change batter her

And the sands of time erode

What we allow them to touch,

Yet she holds.

Rivers of tears flow

Threatening to flood

And make of her a memory,

Yet she holds.

This house cannot divided stand.

And this house divided shall not endure,

Our fathers and their brothers

Together, with blood paid,

Created a bond

That time cannot fade,

Words cannot degrade,

And we cannot repay.

Blue and grey

Perhaps never knew

What their struggle would do

To a country young as they.

Their sacrifice gave to us more than heroes

More than villains and battles,

More than songs,

They gave us this,

They gave us a home

They gave us brothers

They paid with life and blood

That ours be free,

For that is our destiny,

A destiny unachieved.

They gave us a home

From where our own fight can be waged

Indivisible and indestructible.